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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bark · lash · kid · squash · mine · spell · pitch · march

  1. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. spell — letters
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. kid — child
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. mine — for digging
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. kid — to tease
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. march — music
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. bark — to shout
  16. march — the month
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. spell — a short time
  20. march — the month
  21. pitch — completely
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. squash — the sport
  24. squash — to crush

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com